Week 11: ChatGPT Lesson

After playing around with ChatGPT, one thing that struck me as strange was how convincing and certain it can sound while it gives you false information. I noticed that it frequently cites things incorrectly, "hallucinates" information, and gives made-up or inaccessible sources. Because of this, I had the idea to create a two part "reality check" assignment with GPT. 

For the first part, I would give students a simple research assignment: "write a 1-2 page paper about _____" - and I'd give a timely, relevant topic that requires a decent amount of research. The twist is, they can only use ChatGPT to research things on the topic, to write the paper, and to cite their sources (in APA format). This shouldn't take longer than 10 minutes.

For the second part, I would have the students act as if they were a teacher, grading their own paper - I'd tell them to proofread it, check it for errors, look at all the sources, etc. From doing some testing, I know that if you attempt to write a paper this way, it's extremely likely that at least one part of your essay will be either plagiarized, incomplete, false or otherwise incorrect. Even if one or two students managed to have a perfect essay, many of the students would see the flaws of generative AI in action. 

After completing this assignment, it would be intriguing to have a class-wide discussion where we debated what worked, what didn't - how effective is ChatGPT? What are the benefits? The drawbacks? And most importantly, how much do you think you learned while doing this paper? 

There are lots of benefits to ChatGPT - efficiency, ease of conversation, quick deep research, creative idea brainstorming. However, there are challenges - namely, misinformation, plagiarism and most importantly, the fact that it's harder to learn and remain curious when an LLM is doing all of the deep diving for you. I would hope students would take it as a life lesson - it's great to use tools to help you, but prioritize utilizing your creativity and imagination, and be proud of the benefits you earn by constructing your own original work.